Paleontology

Pterosaur precursors

A new study suggests that a group of small extinct ground-dwelling vertebrates, called lagerpetids, were the closest relatives of these mysterious winged reptiles

The oldest and largest blind snake

Paleontologists from the University of São Paulo (USP), Ribeirão Preto campus, have identified the world’s largest and oldest blind snake

Could these be the precursors of pterosaurs?

Study suggests that extinct small terrestrial vertebrates, the lagerpetids, were the closest relatives of those mysterious winged reptiles | 6'43

The advanced brain of a primitive dinosaur

The brain of a well-preserved specimen of Buriolestes schultzi, one of the oldest known dinosaurs, has been reconstructed using computed tomography, suggesting an unusual evolutionary path for one of the most important lineages of this extinct group of reptiles: the sauropods

The blood parasites of a dinosaur

Brazilian paleontologists have identified fossilized blood parasites in the back leg bone of a titanosaur that lived some 85 million years ago

The dinosaur with cancer

An herbivorous dinosaur that lived about 76 million years ago in what is now the province of Alberta in western Canada had highly aggressive bone cancer in its right hind leg

The oldest scorpion in South America

260-million-year-old arthropod fossil found in sedimentary rocks at the side of the road in the state of Santa Catarina

30,000 years ago in the Americas

Mexican site suggests settlement of the Americas began 30,000 years ago

Dinosaur or lizard?

A giant tortoise

The largest freshwater turtle that ever existed, possibly the largest of all turtles, lived between 13.8 million and 5.3 million years ago in South America, inhabiting a larger area than previously thought

The predator with voracious jaws

A fossil discovered in Rio Grande do Sul is the best-preserved representative of the herrerasauridae, one of the first strains of carnivorous dinosaur

Tuatara fossil discovered in Rio Grande do Sul

The oldest specimen of a sphenodon in the southern hemisphere has been found in the municipality of Candelária, in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul

A landscape in an egg

A group led by paleontologist Sérgio Alex Azevedo, from the National Museum of Rio de Janeiro, was able to identify the fossil by analyzing its microstructure

A stranger in the Grand Canyon

280-million-year-old fossil footprints from an ancient desert provide first evidence of the presence of vertebrates that in theory had not yet adapted to dry environments

A 42-million-year-old whale with legs

Its limbs were well adapted to swimming and were not suited to moving across land

Max Langer: How prehistoric life forms are classified

Paleontologist explains what makes a reptile a dinosaur and explains why the origin of these animals is so hotly debated

The First Land of the Dinosaurs

Many of the oldest known fossils of these reptiles, which lived 230 million years ago, have been found in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, on the border of Argentina

The day the dinosaurs died

A discovery is helping researchers understand the events that followed the huge meteorite impact that hit Earth 65 million years ago

The origin of the butterfly

Studies based on gene and fossil analysis estimate that butterflies emerged between 120 and 100 million years ago

The horned crocodile of Acre

New fossil belonged to the 31^st known species of a group of reptiles that lived in South America between 23 million and 5 million years ago

Dinosaurs probably originated in Southern Brazil

Paleontologists talk about characteristics and origins of dinos | 10'59"

225-million-year-old long-necked dinosaurs

The fossils of three specimens of a new genus and species of herbivorous dinosaur have been found in the state of Rio Grande do Sul

The gregarious habits of an herbivorous reptile

Researchers from the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul found an assemblage of fossils from at least six different Dinodontosaurus individuals

Fossils on the move

3D reconstructions highlight new characteristics of crocodiles and dinosaurs that lived millions of years ago in Brazil

Brazil’s National Museum in Quinta da Boa Vista

Brazil’s National Museum in Quinta da Boa Vista, Rio de Janeiro September 3, 2018

Evidence of the union of two supercontinents

Calcareous rocks in the northeastern state of Maranhão contain fossil records of the oldest plant groups in Brazil

Rare dinosaur sold for €1.13 million

An auction lead to a discussion about the recent trend of treating fossils as works of art

The first beaked bird

A bird that lived between 95 million and 84 million years ago is helping scientists learn how the beak evolved

The rain that united two forests

Periods of heavy rainfall between 120,000 and 12,000 years ago may have connected the Atlantic Forest to the Amazon

More people in the rainforest

New archaeological sites and evidence of plant domestication support the idea that pre-Columbian Amazonia was densely populated